Part I The Basics

Microbiology is the branch of biology which deals with the study of micro organisms. In this modern world the importance of microbiology is increasing

What is Microbiology?

What are microbes?

What makes microbes different from other organisms?

Why Study Microbiology?

Fields of microbiology

Medical microbiology

Environmental microbiology

Food microbiology

Microbiology as a basic science

Uses of microbiology

Biotechnology

Bio-remediation

Natural products (Bio-Pharmaceutics)

Synthetic biology

Medical microbiology

Pathology and the microbial basis of disease

Microbial nature of the human body

Virology

The branch of science which deals with the study of viruses

Summery

History of Microbiology

Ancient History, what we knew before we knew what we didn't know

Ancient microbial foods

Ancient preservation techniques

The understanding of disease in a pre-microbial world

Conflict and Transition, the discovery of microbes and the debate surrounding spontaneous generation

Leeuwenhoek, microscopes, and animalcules

Hooke and Kircher, two alternate early microscopists

The theory of spontaneous generation and its detractors

Louis Pasture and the end of spontaneous generation

Pasture and Koch, the fathers of modern microbiology

Vaccination and pasteurization

The germ theory of disease

Koch's postulates

Summery

A Tour of the Microbial World

The Three Domains of Life

A historical perspective

Prokaryotes vs. eukaryotes

Bacteria

What are bacteria?

Common bacterial characteristics

Classifying bacteria by cell wall

Gram Positive

Gram Negative

Acid Fast

Mycoplasma

Aside: use of the gram stain in microbiology and health today

Classifying bacteria by morphology

Cocci

Bacilli

Spirillum

Less common shapes

Classifying bacteria by metabolism

Energy source

Fermentation

Gas production/fixation

Classifying bacteria by genetics

Archea

Eukarya

Structure and Function of Prokaryotic Cells

The Chemistry of Life and Metabolism of Microbial Cells

Nutrition and Growth

Genetics and Gene Expression

Viruses

Bacteria can be classified by general morphology. Characteristic cell shape and size help to name and differentiate microorganisms. There are five types of bacterial cells: Cocci, Bacilli, Coccobacilli, Fusiform, and Spirilla. Cocci bacterium are spherical or oval shape. The cocci can occur in pairs (diplococci), chains (streptococci), and irregular clusters (staphylococci). The entire bacterial cell is very small, about the size of an eukaryotic mitochondria. The second type, bacilli, are rod shaped. Coccibacilli are very short rods that can easily be mistaken for cocci. Fusiform are rod-shaped bacteria that have tapered ends (like an American football). Spirilla are spiral shaped. If the spirilla is spiral shaped and the cell is more flexible it is called a spirochete.

Part II Microbial Diversity

Taxonomy and Phylogeny

Bacteria

Archea

Fungi

Protozoa

Unicellular Algae

Viruses

Actinomycetes

Part III Medical Microbiology

Medical Microbiology is an important concept, generally dealing with microbes that cause diseases. It helps to find the effect of microbes in producing diseases and the remedial of the diseases. One of the major field of Medical Microbiology is the study of antibiotics producing organisms.

The following fields are related to Medical Microbiology: Immunology Bacteriology Virology Pharmacology

Part IV Environmental Microbiology

Part V Food and Industrial Microbiology

Industrial Microbiology

Introduction-

Use of microbes in industrial or large scale productions is known as industrial microbiology. Mostly the bacteria and fungi are used in industrial applications. Bacteria have the property of rapid reproduction, as they divide rapidly leading to an exponential increase in population. By using bacteria we can transform substrates into more useful or valuable products.

Modern Industrial Microbiology has evolved in demand to develop cheap and faster substitute of chemical reactions. In earlier years of industrial development the transformation reactions are carried out by several steps of lengthy and delicate chemical reactions. They are very hard to control, depend on various other factors, sometimes require harsh conditions like high temperature, high pressure, use of alkali and acids and use of costly transition metals as catalyst. Often, performing a single transformation requires many steps of chemical reaction. By using industrial microbiology we can transform substrates without such harsh conditions more easily than ever.

Microbes are also used to produce antibiotics, vitamins, amino acids, organic acids, alcohols, and also as food called single cell proteins (SCP).

In industrial microbiology we use the native properties of microbes to grow in various environmental conditions (can use various materials as their carbon/energy source). The yeast sacchromyces spp. for example, can grow in both in presence or absence of oxygen. When it grows in presence of oxygen it breaks glucose into CO2 and water and yields energy for growth. while growing in anaerobic conditions it produces ethyl alcohol and CO2 and just survives with little growth. This property was identified earlier in the development of humankind and thus humans started production of various alcoholic beverages.

List of Products

Ethanol

Acetic acid

Lactic acid

Vitamins

Amino acids

Enzymes

Some insecticides

Lipids

Coloring compounds

Polysaccharides(gum)

Most important use of microbes is as enzyme producers. In the beginnings of microbiology it was discovered that something within the yeast is responsible for the conversion of sugar into alcohol. This biological compound was known as an enzyme ( en= within, zyme= yeast)

Nowadays the following industrially important enzymes are produced by microbes:

Amylases (to degrade starch)

Proteases (to degrade proteins)

Lipases (to degrade lipids)

Pectinases (clarification of wine and fruit juices)

Cellulases (to convert cellulose into glucose)

Proteases and lipases are used as additives in modern detergents.

Microbes naturally produce enzymes in order to utilize the food sources present around them. For example, various fungi and bacteria growing on fruit-based substrates produce pectinases and cellulases to degrade the materials present on the cell wall of fruit cells.